The Cable multiple system operators (MSOs) access networks are going through two revolutionary transition processes. Process number one is the transition from centralized headend equipment to distributed architecture, with a physical layer device at a street node and the rest of headend equipment virtualized in the operator network. Process number two is the transition of the cable (e.g., coax cable) operators to Fiber to the Home (FTTH) or passive optical networks (PON). Current implementations of coaxial (coax) networks utilize DOCSIS for layer 2 and upper layer processing. As part of a move towards the distributed access architectures and Network Function Virtualization (NFV) based headend, the cable operators have developed a “remote PHY” standard in coax networks that allows relocating the coax specific PHY to the street node and keeping the DOCSIS layer 2 and higher layers processing in the headend, which, when virtualized, can run on a completely off-the-shelf, standard platform. To offer the fiber service, the cable operators are using Ethernet passive optical network (EPON) as layer 2 in the current implementations of PON. However, there is no “remote PON PHY” standard defined for PON that enables to realize a distributed architecture for PON.